Leader of the Majority in the National Assembly Kimani Ichung’wah has accused some church leaders of fuelling division in the country through what he described as messages of hatred, incitement and ethnic politics.
Speaking during a Sunday church service at a church in Lurambi, Kakamega County on June 29, 2025, Ichung’wah stated that the Church has not been immune to the wave of polarising rhetoric that has gripped the country, noting that some members of the clergy were contributing to the problem instead of promoting national unity.
He urged the Church to reflect on its influence and responsibility, cautioning that when faith leaders become conduits for political incitement, the damage to the country’s cohesion is profound.
“The negative voices that you are speaking about are not just in the secular world. We have seen it even among us church leaders – voices of negativity, voices of hatred, voices of incitement, voices of ethnicity that are dividing Kenyans along ethnic lines,” Ichung’wah told the congregation.
“We can never prosper as a nation if we are divided against ourselves,” he emphasised.
Ichung’wah called on the church to bring up the youths in the country in a united manner, bridging gaps between the youngest and the elderly members of society.
“Let us bring up young generations or young generations of our country in a way that we are united as a people in a way that we unite them across all generations, whether it is from the youngest generation to the elderly in our society,” he stated.
Fostering national unity
The parliamentary leader warned further against allowing political leaders to exploit ethnic and generational differences, arguing that the country risked descending into deeper division if the discord is allowed to foster.
“Let us not allow political leaders to come and divide us on generational or ethnic grounds, or even to drive hatred amongst us-hatred against our leaders, hatred or incitement against our own nation,” Ichung’wah asserted.
The Kikuyu MP emphasised the need to raise a generation of Kenyans who value unity, urging the public to defy what he termed as negative voices.
“As a church (we must) always remain united and not listen to or defy, as you (Bishop) put it, the negative voices around us. Let us seek to unite everybody, and let us not allow political leaders to come and divide us. If we remain united, we defy the negative voices around us and we shall prosper,” he stated.
